


Whumptober 2020 - Why don't we hurt the old guys?

by asamandra



Series: Whumptober [4]
Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Alcoholism, Amputation, Arachnophobia, Attempted Rape, Blood Loss, Buried Alive, Date Rape Drug, Don't copy to another site, Drowning, F/F, F/M, Failed escape, Fire, Forced to beg, Forced to knees, Frozen Planet, Future, Gen, Hanging, Held at Gunpoint, Human Hunting, Isolation, Kidnapping, M/M, Medical Inaccuracies, Medical Procedures, Migraine, Other, Racist Language, Ritual Sacrifice, Sensory Deprivation, Slavery, Sleep Deprivation, The flu, Torture, Whipping, Whump, Whumptober, Witch Trials, Withdrawal, broken trust, collared, field medicine, minor char. death, ooc quynh, tags will be updated with each chapter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-01
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:35:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 31
Words: 18,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26749603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asamandra/pseuds/asamandra
Summary: It's whumptober and apparently I have no life because I decided I'll do it twice! This is for "The Old Guard"
Relationships: Andy | Andromache of Scythia/Lykon, Andy | Andromache of Scythia/Quynh | Noriko, Booker | Sebastien le Livre/Nile Freeman, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Series: Whumptober [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947616
Comments: 50
Kudos: 227





	1. Let's hang out sometime - Joe/Nicky

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No 1. LET’S HANG OUT SOMETIME  
> Waking Up Restrained | Shackled | **Hanging**

Joe was fluent in nineteen modern languages, he got along in twenty-two more and he knew a bunch of languages no one spoke anymore. Right now he cursed himself in all of them. He had trusted the wrong person despite Nicky warning him repeatedly. 

But he knew Oliver for a long time, he knew his family, his parents, his wife, his children. He was sure he could trust him. But every person had a secret and Oliver’s secret was a daughter he had with another wife.

For years Oliver was very active in the Underground railroad but apparently the Slaters, a group of slave catchers, found out about his daughter and blackmailed him. He had given them his, Joe’s, name and they came for him. 

It was a hard fight, but they were many and he hadn’t expected them. And he was alone. Nicky and Booker were on their way to Canada with a group of people and Andy… he had no idea where Andy was at the moment. 

Joe managed to kill six of them and injure five more so seriously that they probably wouldn’t survive the night. But then one of them landed a lucky shot and injured him. Not enough to kill him but enough to take him out. The Slaters tied him and dragged him away. That’s when he saw Oliver. 

He looked at him and he looked guilty and Joe knew that it was him who sold him out. 

“I’m sorry, Joseph,” he whispered when the slave catchers dragged him away. 

Joe cursed again, this time in Mandarin, when they led him to the next tree. Just like that. No trial, no judge, no jury. Just a tree and a rope. 

Lance Slater, the oldest of the Slater brothers, grinned at him. 

“Well, nigger, now you’re gonna pay for stealing other people’s belongings,” he said and laughed. 

“Other people’s belongings?” Joe snorted angrily. “These men are people, not things!” 

“And that’s where you’re wrong,” Slater laughed. He gestured at two of his men and they dragged Joe to the tree. Lance Slater himself tied the hangman’s knot and placed it around his neck. Joe kicked at them, tried to get out of their grip but it was impossible. They pulled the rope tight and threw it over a thick branch. One of the men took the end of it and tied it to the saddle of one of the horses and then they led it away. The rope became taut around his neck and breathing became difficult. It started to hurt and he could feel that he was lifted off of the ground. His feet dangled in the air and he couldn’t breathe. They pulled him up some more and watched him struggling, suffocating… and dying. His vision became blurry and he couldn’t breathe and he hoped this wasn’t his time. Nicky would be devastated. 

It hurt so much and he couldn’t breathe. Nicky would… Nicky…

When he came around again he could still feel the rope around his neck, he could still hear the men around him laugh… and then he could hear them scream. One of the men fell to the ground, an arrow in his throat. Another one dropped dead because a knife had hit him.

Joe couldn’t breathe and his vision became blurry again. 

He came around and saw lots of dead men lying around him. Someone came and cut the rope with a sword, an old sword, a sword once used in the crusades. He fell, it hurt again and then there was air. He sucked it in greedily and it felt like heaven. 

“Hey there,” a voice said and someone stepped in his view, hunkered down beside him and smiled. “Missed me?” 

A knife cut through the rope and he could breathe more easily. He blinked a few times and licked his lips.

“Nicky,” he rasped and then he added, “Il mio cavaliere.” 

“I leave you alone for a few days and you get yourself in danger again?” Nicky reached around him and cut through the ties that held his hands. He grabbed Joe’s arm and helped him up. 

“I knew you would come,” Joe said.

“Come on,” Booker interrupted them. He looked around and seemed nervous. “We don’t want to be found in a pile of corpses, right?” 

“Right,” Joe nodded and reached for his hat he had lost earlier. He put it on and followed Nicky and Booker. 

“I guess it’s time to move on,” Booker said. 

And both, Joe and Nicky, agreed. Andy would find them. She always did.


	2. In the hands of the enemy - Andromache the scythian

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No 2. IN THE HANDS OF THE ENEMY   
> “Pick Who Dies” | **Collars** | Kidnapped

She was a goddess! At least, she’d been one! 

Andromache glared at the men holding her arms. Not long ago they had worshipped her and now… now they held her. 

Wanacus, who once was her second in command, grinned at her and showed her what he had in his hands.

“Don’t you dare,” hissed Andromache. The men who held her flinched slightly. 

“What are you going to do, _goddess_?” he mocked. “Are you gonna send a storm? Lightning?” 

“No, Wanacus,” Andromache hissed. “I will kill you.” 

Wanacus laughed but she could hear the tension in it. He knew she would kill him if she got the chance. But he wouldn’t give her the chance. He had a deal with the Persians and they would take care of her. 

He took the metal collar and went to her. The men beside her tightened their grip and she glared at Wanacus when he put it around her throat. He locked it and fastened a chain to it, too. With an evil grin he went around her and tied her wrists behind her back. 

“You will pay for this,” she said when he was back in her sight. 

Wanacus nodded at the men and they pulled her up, shoved her to the door of the hut and led her out into the dirty inner yard. A horse-drawn cart waited for her and she could see the Persians. Wanacus went to them, talked to them quietly, gave them something - the key? - and got something in return. Gold.

“I will see you again, Wanacus,” she said. “And then I will kill you. I will kill your wife and your children and everyone related to you. This is a promise!” 

The man paled a bit and swallowed hard. But then the Persians shoved her into the cart and closed it behind her. 

“I will see you again!”

***

**46 years later**

Wanacus lay on his bed. He was in a great deal of pain. He was old now and his whole family was here to be with him in his last moments. 

“Father,” his granddaughter said when she entered the room. He opened his eyes and sat up a bit. “You have a visitor.” 

“Who is it, child?” he asked. 

“She said she is an old friend,” his granddaughter said. She stepped aside and then Wanacus saw a face he thought he would never see again. 

“Hello, old friend,” Andromache said and entered the room. She nodded at the young woman and she left. She closed the door and Andromache turned to the man in the bed. 

“I’ve told you I would see you again,” she said and smiled. And then she drew her dagger.


	3. My way or the highway - Sebastien le Livre | Booker

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No 3. MY WAY OR THE HIGHWAY  
> Manhandled | **Forced to their Knees** | **Held at Gunpoint**

“Is there something you want to say?” the man asked him. Sebastien le Livre, also known as Booker, glared up at him. 

“Merde!” he said and sighed. He turned and looked at the men behind him. Germans. Nazis. He wanted to spit at the ground but he couldn’t risk moving. They would shoot at them. Sure, he would survive, but the rest of the people who was with him wouldn’t. 

Two years ago, when the Nazis started to take over France, Booker headed back to his home country to help the people fight against the Nazis. 

He joined La Résistance and he and his group became a thorn in the Nazis’ flesh. They committed acts of sabotage and stole weapons and other useful stuff for their own people. 

But then the Nazis put rewards on him and the other members of his group. 

Oberleutnant Schmitz huffed and backhanded him. Someone had sold them out and the Nazis came. They were outnumbered but they still fought. A few of his friends were dead but the rest was captured. The Nazis had pointed their guns at them and forced them to get down on their knees. Reluctantly Booker had obeyed but he didn’t like it. Not at all. 

“Listen, frog eater,” he hissed and bent down to him. He drew his gun and pressed it against Booker’s head. “You tell me who your leader is and I won’t shoot you.” 

Booker snorted and pressed his lips together. 

The man bent down to him, his nose very close to Booker’s. He pressed his gun harder into his temple. 

“Tell me!” The guy yelled at him. 

“No,” Booker said and shook his head. He looked up, looked the guy straight in the eyes. 

Schmitz gritted his teeth but then he moved his gun away from Booker’s head and pressed it to Jean-Luc’s. 

“Tell me who your leader is,” he snarled and Jean-Luc swallowed nervously. 

“No,” he eventually said and shook his head, too. Schmitz cursed in German and cocked the gun.

“Last chance, frog eater!” 

“I… I…” Jean-Luc stammered and Booker saw that he was terrified. 

Schmitz straightened and he knew, he just knew that he would shoot Jean-Luc. He tried to shake off the hands of his captors and get to them. But the men who held him expected something like that and grabbed him tighter. He struggled and cursed but they forced him back on his knees. Schmitz turned his head, looked at him, held his eyes… and pulled the trigger. 

Jean-Luc fell down. Dead. 

“No!” Booker screamed when Schmitz moved to the next of his friends. He pressed the muzzle against Charles’s temple and asked him.

“Will you tell me who your leader is?” 

Charles licked his lips, pressed them tight together and shook his head. 

“Well,” Schmitz sighed and cocked his gun again. 

“Wait!” Booker called out. Schmitz looked at him again and raised one of his brows.

“It’s me,” he lied. “I am the leader of this group,” he added then and Schmitz started to nod slowly and to grin. 

He stepped away from Charles, turned to Booker with his gun in his hand. 

“Shoot them all,” the man said and pulled the trigger… and then there was darkness.


	4. Running out of time - Nicky/Joe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No 4. RUNNING OUT OF TIME  
> Caged | **Buried Alive** | Collapsed Building

He screamed. He hammered with his fists against the wood above him but it didn’t give in. 

“Joe!” he screamed again. 

Nicky lay on his back in a wooden crate - _coffin_ \- and tried to breathe. It was hard. There wasn’t much oxygen. 

“Damn,” he cursed silently. “Damn!” 

A week ago he and Joe literally stumbled upon a human trafficking gang. They told refugees from Northern Africa that they would bring them to Europe, they took their money and delivered them to people, who forced them to work for them. They took their papers and everything so these people couldn’t even get back home. 

Joe had suggested that he would go undercover, that he pretended to be a refugee who wanted to get to Europe and Nicky should follow them. 

They both had no idea that the human traffickers had help from the cops. They didn’t find out about Joe… but they found Nicky. 

The human traffickers brought the refugees to a cargo ship and Nicky followed them. He was almost there when he suddenly got stopped by police cars. They didn’t ask questions, they just shot him. 

He woke up again and lay in the trunk of the police car and was ready to fight. When they opened the trunk he attacked them. He fought, he injured two of them but then they shot him again. Nicky woke and they shot him once more until they realized he couldn’t die. 

That’s how he ended here, in a wooden crate, buried only god knows where. And he could barely breathe. 

“Joe!” he screamed and hammered at the lid. Maybe he could break it and dig himself out of his grave. But the oxygen was gone and he couldn’t breathe. He tried to inhale but there wasn’t anything here and he could feel how his consciousness drifted away. His heart beat went slower and slower and he died. 

With a start Nicky came around, he tried to suck in air but there was no air, no oxygen. He gasped, hit the lid of his wooden prison… and died. 

He awoke again, tried to breathe… and died again.

Over and over and over again. 

Ten times. 

Hundred times. 

Thousand times. 

And more. 

Again and again and again and again. 

He came around once more… and sucked in air. He could breathe!

“Nicky!” he heard a voice. “Nicky, Nicky, Habibi!” Strong arms pulled and then he lay in Joe’s embrace. Tears ran over his face. 

“I have you, my love,” he whispered. “I have you.”


	5. Where do you think you're going - Joe/Nicky

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No 5. WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU’RE GOING?  
> On the Run | **Failed Escape** | Rescue

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Nicky closed his eyes and slowly raised his hands when he heard the men behind him cocking their guns. He turned around and saw six of them, everyone aiming weapons at him. 

Six weeks ago Nicky had heard about a guy, who invented a new drug in Salvador, Brazil. It was some sort of date rape drug, only worse because it also was heavily addictive. The victims literally craved to be abused again and again. 

Nicky had told Andy but she was already planning to take out a war lord somewhere in Africa and she needed Joe. No one knew where Booker was at the moment. 

“It’s dangerous, boss,” he had said and Andy had looked at him for a very long moment. 

“I know,” she said. “But this,” - she gestured at the map on the table in front of her - ,” is important, too.” 

“You don’t need me for your mission,” Nicky had stated. “I’ll go and check out the situation.” 

Joe had looked up from the map, a frown in his face. 

“You want to go alone?” he had asked and Nicky had shrugged. 

“I’m a big boy already,” he had said then and when he had seen the worry on his husband's face he had added, “And I promise to be careful.” 

“All right,” Andy had finally agreed. “But you only check out the situation, okay? Check in with us in a week.” 

“Naturalmente,” he had smiled and had packed his own stuff. He flew to Brazil with a guy who helped them every now and then. He had a plane and if you knew the right people he brought you wherever you wanted to be. 

The first few days everything went according to plan, he had checked out the area, had checked out the bars and clubs and started to socialize with the locals. 

But then something went wrong and one evening, when he had left a bar, the police had waited for him. They had arrested him and brought him to the local prison where they had locked him in. No one had told him why they had arrested him but when the police commander finally appeared in front of his cell, he had understood. 

“Pereira,” Nicky had hissed and glared at the man. Lucas Pereira was not only the man who spread the drug, he was also the local police commander and - and that’s the worst - he knew him! He had met him before in Rio de Janeiro, 1983. 

“I knew something was odd with you,” Pereira had said and grinned nastily. 

And then they had started to interrogate him. Nicky went with the story that the man Pereira had met was his father and that he knew his name because he had talked to the locals. He was sure they didn’t believe him and Pereira had threatened to use the drug on Nicky. He had to get away as fast as possible. 

He knew his capturers came every evening to bring him food and fortunately the cell was small. Small enough for the idea he came up with. It was insane, he had to admit, but he had to try it. 

“Madre di dio,” he muttered and pressed both his hands against the wall beside the door. He reached out with his left leg, pressed it against the opposite wall and took a deep breath. 

“Madre di dio,” he whispered again when he pressed his hands and foot against the walls and moved the second leg up. He cursed under his breath and slowly moved up the wall till he hung beneath the ceiling. People outside of the cell couldn’t see him right now.

It took another few minutes and Nicky’s muscles started to tremble already but finally he heard the guards. One of them cursed in Portuguese, dropped the tray he held… and opened the door. 

The moment he was inside Nicky dropped down, grabbed his head while still on him and broke his neck. The second guard was there and tried to attack him but a precise kick to the solar plexus let him slump down, too. 

Nicky grabbed the keys still and moved along the corridor. The other prisoners wanted him to let them out, too, but he didn’t have the time. He fought his way out of the prison and almost managed to get to the exit, when he heard the guns behind him and Pereira asking him where he thought he would go. 

“The service here sucks,” Nicky said and shrugged. “I’m checking out.” 

“Oh,” Pereira mocked and his men laughed. “You’re a funny one!” 

“I do what I can,” Nicky said. He could fight but the risk to get shot was too high and then they would maybe find out that he couldn’t die. So he just raised his hands and waited for the guards to tie him up again.

“Bring him back to his cell,” Pereira commanded and the men dragged him away. 

_Joe_ , Nicky thought, Joe would find him. He always found him when he was in danger just the way he always found Joe when he needed him, Nicky. Yes, Joe would find him. Hopefully sooner than later.


	6. Please... - Joe/Nicky

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No 6. PLEASE….  
> “Get it Out” | No More | **“Stop, please”**

Joe sighed and looked at Nicky. He sat in the cell opposite of him and leaned his head against the wall. He had drawn one leg up to his body and placed his wrist on it. Their mission has gone wrong. 

“It was a trap,” Nicky said after a long while of quietness. 

“I know,” Joe nodded. He wished he could touch him right now. 

“I just don’t understand why? Why set us up? This was supposed to help the people here,” Nicky mused. 

“Oh, don’t worry, it _will_ help the people here,” someone said and both men turned to the person in the corridor. It was a middle-aged, black woman with graying hair and a colorful African dress. She looked at Joe, then at Nicky, then back. 

“We know who you are,” she said and her lips turned into a smile. “What you are.” 

“And what are we?” Nicky asked and cocked his head. 

“You can’t die,” the woman said. “And you’re old.” She turned to Joe now. “Very old.” 

“That’s ridiculous,” Joe snorted. “Everything dies.” 

“And everyone,” Nicky added. 

“But apparently you are not,” she said and smiled. “We have proof.” 

“Ah,” Joe said and nodded mockingly. “All right, and what do you want now?” 

“We know about the treasure,” the woman said and the smile disappeared from her lips. 

“Treasure?” Nicky asked and frowned. He moved and sat cross-legged now. 

“The art,” the woman said. “The gold and the jewels. We want it.” 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Joe said and shook his head. 

“We will see,” the woman said, reached in the pocket of her dress and pulled out a coin. She looked at it and then she pointed at Joe. “Head,” she said and then pointed at Nicky and said, “Tail.” 

She flipped it and let it drop to the ground before she looked at it. “Tail,” she said then. She turned around, nodded and a few seconds later a few men came in, opened the cell and went in. Nicky fought, but they had tasers and it didn’t take long and he went down. Only half conscious they dragged him away. 

Joe jumped up and went to the cell door. “What are you doing?” 

“We’re convincing you to tell us about the treasure,” the woman said and followed the men. A few minutes later they were back. 

“Do you want to come or do we have to drag you out there, too?” she asked. Joe closed his eyes for a second and nodded. They had Nicky and he had no idea what they had done to him. If they would tase him, he couldn’t help him. 

The men tied his hands and led him into a big room and there he saw Nicky again. They had removed his shirt and tied him spread-eagle to a wooden frame. He was awake again and looked at Joe, trying a weak smile. 

“What the…” Joe started but the woman raised her hand and stopped him. She pointed at a chair opposite of the wooden frame and the men brought him there, tied him to it and Joe looked at Nicky now. 

“Will you tell us about the treasure?” she asked him. Nicky shook his head and so did Joe a moment later. 

“Fine,” she said and turned to one of the men. He stepped forward and now Joe could see the whip in his hand. It was a nasty cat o’ nine tails with thick ropes and Joe’s mouth went dry. 

The man raised his hand with the whip and with a sharp crack it hit Nicky’s back. He groaned but didn’t scream out. It took them six more hits till he couldn’t hold the screams back anymore and Joe had to close his eyes. 

“Will you tell us about the treasure?” the woman asked him again and Joe looked at Nicky, who still shook his head. 

“No,” he whispered. The woman shrugged, nodded at the man and he started to whip Nicky again. Joe held the eyes of his lover and swallowed hard when he heard his painful screams. But when Nicky was covered in blood and could barely stand anymore Joe turned to the woman.

“Stop,” he whispered and added, “please!” 

“Non farlo!” Nicky demanded but Joe ignored him. “Non dirlo!” 

“Will you talk?” the woman asked and looked at Joe. 

“Yusuf! Non dirlo!” 

Joe licked his lips… and told them everything about the safe house in Johannesburg.


	7. I've got you - Andromache/Lykon & Quynh

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No 7. I’VE GOT YOU  
>  **Support** | Carrying | Enemy to Caretaker
> 
> TW: char. death

“Lykon!” Quynh yelled and whirled around. She beheaded two more of the warriors before she managed to get to him. Andromache was too far away to have noticed but Quynh had seen it. She killed three more men and then she was at his side. He lay on the ground and bled… and it didn’t stop. 

Quynh pressed her hands on his stomach but she knew it was too late. Blood bubbled up at his lips and she knew he wouldn’t make it. 

“Hold on, Lykon,” she said nevertheless and he looked at her. They both knew he wouldn’t survive. 

“Andromache!” She turned around and screamed the name of her friend. She didn’t hear her. She called her again and Andromache cut open the last man from hip to neck and he fell into the dirt. 

Andromache turned around and saw her kneeling beside Lykon. She let her ax drop and ran. 

“Lykon!” she breathed as soon as she was close enough for the dying man to hear her. “Lykon, what happens? Why don’t you heal?” 

“My time has come,” Lykon whispered with blood on his lips. He looked at Andromache and she reached for his hand, squeezed it while Quynh still tried to stop the bleeding. But it was futile. 

“Lykon,” Andromache said and leaned down to his ear. “Please!” 

Lykon stopped shivering and went limp. His breathing had stopped and his eyes lost their brightness. He was dead. Dead. 

“Lykon!” Andromache screamed and shook him, shook him violently. Quynh removed her hands from his stomach and put one on Andromache’s shoulder. She had loved Lykon, but not the way Andromache had loved him. He was like a brother to her, but for Andromache he was more. 

“Lykon,” she said again and again, she shook the man lying in front of her and Quynh saw the desperation in her eyes. 

“Andromache,” she said quietly. 

“No, Lykon!” Andromache screamed and tears ran over her face. 

“Andromache,” Quynh said again and squeezed her shoulder a little harder. She didn’t react and Quynh moved closer to her, turned her around and forced her to look at her. 

“He’s dead,” Andromache said, her eyes still full of tears, grief… and fear. “He’s dead, Quynh!” 

“I know,” Quynh said quietly and wrapped her arms around Andromache. It took a few moments but then Andromache wrapped her arms around her, too. She let her head drop against Quynh’s shoulder. 

Quynh just held her in her arms and let her cry. She had never seen her cry before but now… now she needed it and Quynh held her and was there for her. 

“I have you,” she whispered. “I will always have you, my friend, until the end.”


	8. Where did everybody go? - Booker

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No 8. WHERE DID EVERYBODY GO?  
> “Don’t Say Goodbye” | Abandoned | **Isolation**

“I was hoping for less,” Booker said and licked his lips. “But I was expecting more.” 

He had watched them leave, had seen Joe’s last glance in his direction and then they were gone. And he was alone.

He went back to the bar, bought a drink and then another and another. He was completely smashed when they threw him out that evening and he stumbled through the streets with no idea where to go. He woke up on a park bench when a dog barked and someone muttered ‘dosser’. 

Booker winced when he looked around. He was cold and someone had stolen his shoes while he was out cold. Fortunately his wallet was still here but he had only six pound and nine euros in it. He looked around and recognized the area. Not far from here they had a safehouse. Maybe the others… He stopped these thoughts and sighed. 

On his way he searched for his flask, but it was gone. 

“Merde,” he muttered and shuffled forward. People stared at him, at his disheveled appearance, at his missing shoes and one time he snapped at them in french. They shook their heads and hurried away and Booker moved on. 

He was tired again when he arrived at the safehouse. No one was there, no one was around and he went to the entrance, found the numeric keypad and punched in the code he remembered. No one had changed it and with a tiny klick the door went open. Booker went in.

It was dark, dusty and he switched on the light. He looked around and saw fresh footprints in the dust. They’d been here but they didn’t lock him out. He was still part of the team… part of the family. Still…

Slowly Booker went to the chest where they kept spare clothes. He found a pair of shoes - Joe’s - and put them on. He found clean clothes, too, - Nicky’s - and changed. 

A few weapons were gone, someone had opened the safe but when Booker looked in there was still enough money left. He took two of the packs with fifty euro bills and put them in a rucksack together with his dirty clothes. He found a bottle of vodka in the kitchen and drank half of it. 

Booker sat down on the couch and looked around. Usually Nicky would go to the kitchen, would start to prepare food, Joe would draw him or some of the team, Andy would lie down somewhere and take a nap and he… he would drink. Or watch TV. Or both. And Nile? He had no idea what Nile would do.

But now he was alone and he had no idea where the others were. And he wouldn’t see them for a very long time. He took the bottle with vodka and drank the rest. It was quiet. Too quiet. Too damn quiet. He missed Nicky’s singing, Joe’s stories and Andy cleaning her weapons, he missed the noises the other’s made… he missed them. Already. 

Booker leaned back and stared at the ceiling. He could do that. He would survive the hundred years and then, then he would make up to them. For now… for now he would go back to Paris and then maybe, maybe find something to do, something to help people, something… something to help him over the quietness around him.


	9. For the greater good - Joe/Nicky

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No 9. FOR THE GREATER GOOD  
> “Take Me Instead” | “Run!” | **Ritual Sacrifice**

Yusuf startled awake in the small room he slept in. He had just had a very vivid, very realistic nightmare. It was… it reminded him of the dreams of the two women he often had. 

But this one was worse, this one was about Nicolò. He sat up and wiped his face, scratched his beard and let his fingers run absentmindedly over the spot where the dagger had killed him three years ago. 

Nicolò. He was… he was in danger. He knew, he was in danger and he… he couldn’t help him, could he?

Three years ago he had worked as a gardener for Nicolò’s family in Genoa where he met him every now and then. The boy wasn’t allowed to leave the property alone and only seldom with either his father or one of his two older brothers. But sometimes he was in the garden to read or just to enjoy the sun. 

He’s been a sweet boy, three years younger than Yusuf, with a shy smile and eyes as stormy as the ocean. Yusuf liked him, liked him a lot and he was sure Nicolò liked him, too. 

The rest of his family was… odd, to put it mildly. There were areas on the property where no one was allowed, not even the gardeners even if the grass and shrubbery grew uncontrolled. 

And Nicolò? He was… so sweet and so sad the same moment. 

Yusuf had asked him one time and Nicolò had shrugged. 

“I’m the third son of a third son,” he had said cryptically as if that would explain everything. 

Three years ago - Nicolò was sixteen - his father had seen him talk to his son and he had sent for him. Guards had brought him to Signore Placido and the older man had furiously yelled at him, had told him no one was allowed to talk to his son and fired him afterwards. But that wasn’t enough. That night Nicolò’s older brothers appeared at the small house Yusuf lived in, they had dragged him out, had beat him up and when he had tried to defend himself, the younger of the two had grabbed his dagger and stabbed Yusuf through the heart. 

He died. And then he woke up at the dumping ground outside of the city. They had thrown him away and he… he just woke up. His shirt was torn and bloody but his skin was unblemished. 

That was, when the dreams of the two women had started and he hid in Genoa because he knew they would come, they would come for him. They were close already.

But now he had dreamed of Nicolò, had dreamed…

_Darkness… cold… tied hands… many men in robes with dark masks over their faces… torches… he was dragged through a corridor to a huge hall… deep down under the earth… he fought… he screamed… he begged… the men dragged him to a black block in the middle of the room… they forced him on it… the tied him… they chanted… one of them removed the mask… father… Nicolò’s father… a dagger… ‘please, don’t’... the men chanted louder… father moved… and ran the dagger through Nicolò’s heart… blood… pain… a gasp…_

Something bad happened to Nicolò and he was in danger. He rose from his bed and walked to the door, opened it just the moment someone knocked at it. 

Two women stood there and he knew them, had waited for them. The women from his dreams. 

“Come in,” he said. “You came at the right moment. I need your help.”


	10. They look so pretty when they bleed - Joe/Nicky

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No 10. THEY LOOK SO PRETTY WHEN THEY BLEED  
>  **Blood Loss** | Internal Bleeding | Trail of Blood

Dr. Meta Kozak pursed her lips and looked at the two men tied to the lab tables in front of her. She had just taken lots of samples and data from the white guy. He was unconscious at the moment but the other one was awake. He glared at her furiously and she was pretty sure, if he could get out of his ties he would kill her. Apparently the two guys were a couple and for a moment she wondered how long they were together.

She reread her notes and pursed her lips again. 

“Let’s see what happens, when we bleed you out,” she mused and went to one of the cupboards, took the things she needed and went to the man. 

She put a needle in the vein in his arm and attached a tube. The blood started to flow, to drip in a plastic bag and the man continued glaring at her. 

“Why do you do this?” the other man asked. He was awake now and saw what she was trying to find out. She ignored him and made notes about the progress. 

“Yusuf,” he said and then added something in a language she didn’t understand, probably something arabic. At least it wasn’t Italian, she understood that language. 

“Stop talking,” she said when the other man answered. “Or I have Keane gag you.” 

“You will pay for this,” the Arab said weakly and she snorted. She made another note about the amount of blood in the bag. It was amazing. A normal human being would be unconscious by now. He was regenerating the blood while it flew out of his body. 

She went to the man and fiddled around with the flowmeter and his blood dripped into the bag faster. 

“Don’t do that!” the Italian said and he looked at her. 

Dr. Kozak sighed and went to fetch a skalpell. 

“I said,” she said and went to the Italian, “No talking. I need to concentrate.” She placed a hand on his chin, forced him to look upwards and used the skalpell to cut his vocal cords. Then she set a timer to measure how long it would take them to regenerate. 

The other man shook his head weakly. He was pale like a sheet in the meantime and the plastic bag was almost full to the brim. 

“Amazing,” she muttered and replaced the bag. “With a few more of you we could solve the donated blood problem once and for all.” 

The Arab was pale, he couldn’t even glare anymore and the Italian was still unable to speak. 

“We have eleven liters already,” Meta grinned. “Eleven liters!” 

And the blood was still flowing, slowly, but still. 

“Amazing,” she said again. When the man eventually died of blood loss, she locked the tube and waited, till the man resurrected. 

He opened his eyes and looked at the man beside him. 

“Nicky,” he whispered and Dr. Kozak turned to update the file she had. 

“We’ll do that again in an hour,” she smiled at the two men and then went to the cafeteria to get some coffee and a donut.


	11. Psych 101 - Quynh & Team

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No 11. PSYCH 101  
> Defiance | **Struggling** | Crying

Quynh hated this country. It was loud, people were weird and everything was unfamiliar but her father had insisted that she should study here, in Princeton. Her father had studied here, too, and now he had sent her to America. 

She hated the language, she hated the food and she hated the insincere friendliness everyone here showed. And so she just stayed to herself.

Quynh lived in a dorm, together with another girl - Andy - she had only seen a few times since they moved in. She was always out and about and came back when Quynh was asleep. She saw her in the morning in her bed but when she came back from breakfast Andy usually was gone. 

“You need to go out, Quynh,” her mother had said when she had called her. “Meet people, find friends.” Quynh had smiled, nodded… and sighed inwardly. 

A few weeks into the semester she was partnered with another girl - Nile - for a project and she had invited her to a party. 

“Come on, it’ll be fun,” Nile had said and smiled. “Lots of freshmen will be there.” 

In her head Quynh heard her mother’s voice and eventually she nodded. 

“Okay, I’ll try to come,” she said and Nile’s smile broadened. 

“Awesome!” 

The party was on Saturday and Quynh had no idea what to wear. She scrutinized her wardrobe for a very long time before she decided on a jade green, flowery, knee-length cheongsam. It was her favorite dress and she knew she looked good in it. 

Nile opened the door to the house where the party was and Quynh looked around curiously. 

“It’s the house of a few friends of ours,” she explained. “Joe and Nicky.” She pointed at two men who just danced very close, one of them with black hair and a beard and the other one dark blond. “Don’t ask me how they can afford to rent this house, they refuse to tell us,” she added laughing. 

Nile introduced her to a few of the guests and then shrugged. “I don’t know most of them I have to admit, they… they just came.” 

It took her only a few seconds and Quynh had a red plastic cup with something to drink in her hand. She nipped and it tasted sweet and alcoholic. Nile had left her to greet some more guests and Quynh looked around curiously. She didn’t know anyone here she realized. 

She took another sip of the drink. It tasted good. 

Quynh walked around the house, nodded at a few of the other party guests, saw the guys who had rented the house again, this time talking to… Andy? Andy knew them? She emptied her cup and wanted to go… where? She had no idea. 

When she turned around her knees gave in and she reached for the door frame. Maybe she had emptied the cup too fast. 

“Are you okay?” a guy asked her, reached for her arm and helped her up. 

“I…” Quynh started but her head spun even more. She couldn’t stand on her own and the guy held her arms. 

“You should lie down,” he said and his voice sounded distorted. Somehow the guy managed to shove her up the stairs and through a door and she fell onto something soft and warm. 

Someone touched her and Quynh moved her hands to bat the other hand away but there appeared more hands, more guys came into the room and two of them grabbed her arms. 

“No!” Quynh breathed and turned but another one reached for her, tried to grab her legs. She moved her body, kicked with her legs and realized that she had hit someone. 

“Fuck! Hold her,” the guy growled and Quynh shook her head, tried to get her hands free and kicked with her legs. She twisted around in their grip and heard her dress rip. 

“No!” she struggled against the men who touched her and tried to hold her legs. “No!” 

“What the…” a female voice suddenly said and then she saw Andy. She grabbed the guy who tried to get her legs and threw him against the wall, whirled around and kicked him in the crotch at full tilt. The guy dropped down and screamed. 

Quynh’s legs were free now and she used them to twist around, got her hands free and rolled down from the bed. Andy was on the two guys already, beat them up until the door went open again. 

Joe, Nicky and Nile hurried in, went to Andy and grabbed her arms, dragged her away from the guys who lay on the ground as bloody pulps. 

“Andy!” Nile screamed while Andy struggled against the grip. “Andy, calm down!” 

Quynh crawled away, leaned against the wall and wrapped her arms around her knees. It took the three some minutes to calm Andy down but finally she stopped struggling and panted hard. 

“If I ever see you again,” she said and hunkered down beside one of the guys, “I’ll rip off your balls, don’t forget that!” 

Nile, Nicky and Joe helped Quynh up, asked her if she was okay and when she nodded they took her with them. They went to the kitchen where Nicky started to make coffee while Joe shooed the guests out of the house. 

Andy came to them, too, and she looked Quynh up and down and then nodded. 

“Tomorrow,” she said and looked at the others in the room, “we’re gonna start teaching you the art of self-defense.” 

And Joe smiled and patted her shoulder. “Welcome to the gang.”


	12. I think I've broken something - Andy & Booker

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No 12. I THINK I’VE BROKEN SOMETHING  
> Broken Down | Broken Bones | **Broken Trust**

“Go away, Booker,” Andromache hissed. She stormed down the street, clenching and unclenching her fists. 

Booker followed her. 

“Andy!” he called. “Come on, Andy, wait! Let’s talk!” 

Andy stopped and whirled around and Booker almost slammed into her. She poked her finger into his face and glared. 

“Piss off!” he snarled. “Or I forget my good manners!” 

“Andy, please, I…” 

“Oh no, asshat! Not a chance! You’re dead! I don’t even know you!” Andy snapped and pressed her finger into his chest. 

“Andy, come on,” he said again. “I didn’t mean to…” 

“I trusted you, Booker!” She hissed. “I trusted you and you…” she shook her head and whirled around to walk away. 

Booker made the mistake and reached for her shoulder. Andy grabbed his hand, turned into his body and threw him over her shoulder. With a painful groan he landed on the pavement and looked up at her. 

“I trusted you, Booker. We trusted you,” she hunkered down beside him. “We trusted you and you betrayed us. Joe and Nicky lost their coffee shop because of you and Nile is homeless. Because of you! Because you and your damn alcohol and your damn gambling!” 

“I can explain,” he said. 

“The time for explanations is over,” she snarled angrily. “You said you had a pile of debt, we tried to help you pay them back and you went to the next poker game and lost everything! Everything, Booker! Joe and Nicky loved their coffee shop and now they have nothing! Nile took out a mortgage and she’ll lose her apartment! And you know what? They did it because _I_ asked them!” 

“I… Andy, no, it’s…” 

“You betrayed all of us, Booker! And we don’t want to see you ever again!” she rose and wiped her pants clean. 

“Andy…” 

“Piss off!” 

“Andy!”


	13. Breathe in, breathe out - Andy & Booker

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No 13. BREATHE IN BREATHE OUT  
> Delayed Drowning | Chemical Pneumonia | **Oxygen Mask**

“You’re sure it is here?” Booker asked and looked at Andy. 

Andromache looked up from the map, looked at him, at Joe, at Nicky, then nodded. 

“That’s where I’ve seen it last time,” she said. “Unfortunately, last time I was here, this was dry land.” 

Two thousands years ago this whole area was rich farmland with villages and people living here. But a few years ago the Chinese government decided to flood the whole valley to produce energy. Feng, an old farmer who lived here, had had a carved stone plate. And they needed this plate. 

Booker looked over the ship’s rail into the water beneath the boat. He reached into the pocket of his pants, took the flask and took a sip. 

“All right, let’s do it,” he said then. “Two of us dive, two stay here and take care no one will take a closer look.” 

Both, he and Andy, turned to Joe and Nicky now. 

“What?” Joe asked and Andy rolled her eyes.

“They want us to make out, my love,” Nicky translated with a tiny smirk on his lips. “When someone looks, they see us and hopefully leave us be.” 

“Oh!” Joe said and started to grin. “That sounds like a good idea.” 

“I knew you would like it,” Booker smirked. “Andy?” 

“Let’s get ready,” she said and both went to put on their wetsuits.

***

Booker followed Andy in a close distance. They both wore full-face masks with their diving cylinders and held diving lamps in their hands. They could see the abandoned village already and Andy pointed in a direction.

“It should be over there,” she said over the comm system. “That’s where Feng lived.” 

They both swam in the direction and soon arrived at the small house. 

“It’s… narrow,” Booker said and looked at the destroyed house sceptically. 

Andy looked over her shoulder and swam through the opening into the house. Booker sighed… and followed her. There wasn’t much left of the house but it still took them some time to find the plate. 

“That’s it,” Andy suddenly said and pointed at it. 

“It’s… bigger than I expected,” Booker admitted. 

“But we need it. It will show us the way to Zhāng Wang Wei’s tomb,” Andy said. 

“We could get it out, tie a rope around it and hoist it up with a pulley,” Booker suggested. 

“That’s a good idea,” Andy agreed. “You go, I’ll wait here.” 

Booker nodded, turned around and wanted to dive through the small opening again when he got caught on a protruding stone and tore the hose to his mask. The breathing gas vacated and threw him against a wall, too. His breathing mask splintered, the sudden pressure threw him against a wall behind him, the air escaped his lungs. He tried to suck in air… and died. 

When he resurrected Andy was there. She had removed her own breathing mask and pressed it over Booker’s face. He could breathe again. He wanted to cough but he knew this was not an option right now. 

Andy opened the straps that held the diving tanks to his back, removed the mask from Booker’s face and breathed. Then she held the air, nodded at Booker and he took the mask to breathe. They held each other and started to swim to the surface, handing the breathing mask back and forth. Both moved their feet in synchronicity and eventually breached the water surface. They were not too far away from the boat. 

“Joe!” Andy called. “Nicky!” 

Booker could finally cough up the water in his lungs. 

“Joe! Nicky!” Andy called again and a moment later the heads of the two men became visible over the ship’s railing. 

“Come on, help us aboard,” Andy said and held Booker, who still coughed violently. 

“What’s with him?” Nicky asked worriedly. 

“We had an accident,” Andy said when Joe helped the two of them climb on deck and Nicky took their gear. 

“Come on,” he said. “Let’s drink a cup of tea. Then try it again tomorrow.” 

And Booker nodded thankfully.


	14. Is something burning? - Nile Freeman

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No 14. IS SOMETHING BURNING?  
> Branding | Heat Exhaustion | **Fire**

Copley would be cursing and Andy would yell at her, Nile thought when she leaned back in the seat, her phone pressed to her ear and waited for the man to answer her call. 

A week ago she had told Andy that she needed a few days alone. Joe and Nicky had shared a glance and Andy had scrutinized her for a very long moment. 

“You know, your family believes you’re dead,” she had said and Nile had felt the heat in her ears. 

“I… I know,” Nile had said. “I just… it’s my mom’s birthday and… I just want to see her.” 

When Andy had raised a brow she had added, “From afar! I won’t talk to them and they won’t see me.” 

With a sigh Andy had agreed and had hugged her when she left. 

“Be careful,” Nicky had whispered when he had hugged her, too, and Joe gave her a bear hug and kissed her forehead. 

“Have fun,” he had said and smiled. 

The first two days she just stayed in the neighborhood, hid in her car and tried to get glimpses of her family. She saw her mother twice and her brother thrice but they didn’t see her. 

She had cried when her mother came out of her house, walked down the street to the cemetery with flowers in her hands. In a distance she followed her and saw her go to the grave she knew had her name on it.

Nile had seen her brother, too, but she knew that he was more observant than her mom and she didn’t dare to follow him. 

On day four she just took a walk around her old neighborhood when she heard sirens. Fire trucks passed her at full speed and Nile watched them slither around a corner. They stopped at the corner and now she could smell it. Smoke. 

Okay, she was curious, sue her, so she went to see what was happening and the firemen just jumped out of the trucks and ran to a burning house. Cops were there, too, and they shooed the civilians out of the danger zone. 

“My son!” A man yelled and pointed. “My son Mike is in there!!”

“The fire department will rescue him, sir,” one of the cops said. But Nile could see that they wouldn’t get to him in time. 

The firemen worked hard, really, really hard and they did their best… but this was different. The boy needed help. Now.

Without thinking twice she started to run. The cops tried to stop her but Nile was a Marine, she dodged around them, ran around the firefighters and to the entrance. Fire blazed but she didn’t stop. She ducked her head and ran through the door. More fire around her and it licked at her skin and her hair. She could feel it burn. 

The stairs! She needed to get up the stairs. The man had pointed at the third floor and Nile fought her way upwards. The heat was unbearable and singed her skin. She could barely see between all the smoke and the fire and two times she literally breathed in fire. It hurt like hell but she fought her way through the smoke. 

“Hello?” she called. “Hello? Is anybody here? Mike? Can you hear me?” 

She went to the first door but the handle was hot and burnt the skin off of her hand. 

“Mike?” She called and coughed the next moment. Her hair started to burn again and she went to the next apartment. 

“Mike?” She tried again and this time she could hear something, barely audible over the raging flames. Someone was there, in this apartment. 

“Mike?” she screamed now. “Mike? Where are you?” 

She found a young boy, huddled up between the kitchen counters and the wall and he screamed. Tears ran over his face and he held a plushie in his hands. 

“Mike?” she hunkered down beside him but the boy didn’t take notice, he just screamed and screamed and screamed. 

Nile grabbed him and the boy screamed even more. She had to get him out of here. With the child in her arms she ran to the next window, jumped, turned around so she would hit the window with her back. She shielded the boy as much as possible and broke through the glass. 

Flames followed her and she fell and the boy screamed and lost his plushie and she fell and landed on her back and it hurt. 

Nile lost consciousness for a moment but when she was around again she felt firemen drag her away. One of them held the boy and the man she had seen earlier came to them. The fireman took her into a fireman’s carry and dragged her away. She lost consciousness again for a moment and this time she woke in an ambulance. 

“Stay still,” the EMT said when she tried to sit up. “You’re seriously injured.” 

“The... the boy…” she coughed. “Look at the boy first.” 

“Our colleagues are looking for the boy. We need to get you to the hospital immediately.” 

“No,” she rasped. “Oh god, look,” she suddenly exclaimed and pointed. Oldest trick in the world… but it made the EMTs look for a moment, enough time for Nile to shove them out of the car, get up with a painful scream and get to the driver seat. She started the ambulance, felt guilty as fuck and drove away. The EMTs tried to get in again but she was far away enough already. She drove around the corner and then merged into the traffic. 

Twenty minutes later she stopped the car, took out her phone - thankfully it was still functioning - and called Copley. He would curse a lot.


	15. Into the unknown - Nicky/Joe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No 15. INTO THE UNKNOWN  
> Possession | **Magical Healing** | Science Gone Wrong

The noise of the battle was deafening. Yusuf was surrounded by his brothers-in-arms, swinging his scimitar, killing the enemies. They wore white tabards and cloaks with the sign of the cross on it. And they fought with long swords. 

He had just killed a man when someone attacked him from the side. Yusuf whirled around and blocked the sword. The man pursued him immediately and Yusuf moved back as far as possible before he managed to gain the upper hand. He attacked the guy and they kept fighting. No other crusader attacked him while he fought this man, no one of his brothers fought at his side. 

He had no idea how long it took but they fought, they injured each other, they could barely lift their arms anymore and then he saw an opening. He wielded his scimitar and ran it through the man’s body and in the same moment he could feel pain in his own abdomen. He looked down and saw the bidenhänder protruding out of his own stomach. 

“Uhh..” he managed and looked up, looked in ocean blue eyes, saw the pain in the man’s eyes before he slumped down to his knees. They both fell to their sides and then on their backs, their weapons still in their hands. 

Yusuf could feel the steel again, this time leaving his body. He groaned… and died. And the man beside him died, too.

He came around and blinked. Once. Twice. He still lay on the battlefield even if it was quieter here now. Loads of dead warriors lay around him and he propped himself up on his elbow and saw the man he had just killed doing the same. He said something in a language Yusuf didn’t understand and grabbed his sword again. 

Yusuf found his scimitar beside him right on cue to block another hit from the man. He could see that the wound in his stomach was gone as if he was healed by magic. And he himself felt better than before. All his injuries were gone. 

He rolled to the side to avoid getting killed again but then he used the momentum to get onto his feet, feinted and when the man was too close to get away he killed him again. The man fell and Yusuf pulled his scimitar back but the guy used the moment of carelessness and ran his sword through Yusuf as well. 

He fell back onto his knees, could feel the blood leave his body and his heart stopping to beat. He died again. 

Only to wake up once more. He let his hand run over the deadly wound he just had had but it was gone. Nothing. This had to be magic. There was no other explanation. 

This man… this man with his ocean blue eyes… he had bewitched him. It was the only possibility.

Yusuf forced his body onto his knees, grabbed his weapon and rose… only to see the other man doing the same. 

With a growl he grabbed the hilt and readied himself to kill this sorcerer! Once and for all!


	16. A terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day - Joe/Nicky

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No 16. A TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY  
>  **Forced to Beg** | Hallucinations | Shoot the Hostage

Andy and Nile ran through the safe house to the kitchen where they saw Nicky yell at Joe, gesturing violently with his hands. He talked in Italian at twice the speed while Joe seemed abashed. 

“Va’ a fare in culo!” Nicky snapped, threw his hands in the air, turned on his heels and stormed out of the room. 

“What the…” Nile started and both women turned to look at Joe now. 

“What was that?” Andy asked and Joe sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. 

“I… uh… I was an ass apparently,” he said and sat down. 

“What happened?” Andy wanted to know, but Joe just shook his head. 

“Not… not now,” he said. “Not now.” 

Nile looked from him to the door where Nicky just left and back. Joe had placed his head in both hands. Andy looked at her and gestured with her head to leave Joe alone. Nile nodded and followed her out of the room.

Nicky was nowhere to be seen. 

“What was that?” Nile asked as soon as they were alone and out of earshot. 

“Every now and then they… fight. Something happens and then… they will get over it,” she said. 

“Will they? I mean, whatever Nicky said, it didn’t sound nice.” 

“It wasn’t,” Andy laughed. “Believe me, it wasn’t.”

***

The next few days either Joe or Nicky were with them. As soon as Joe appeared, Nicky left the room. If Nicky came in a room where Joe was he turned around and walked away. Only when Joe wasn’t here, Nicky sat with them.

Neither of them told them what happened. 

“You should talk to him,” Nile said when she saw Joe’s miserable expression one evening four days after the incident. 

“He’s not ready,” Joe explains. “It… will take some more time,” he added then. 

“More time?” Nile asked incredulously. “I know I don’t know you as long as Andy does, but I’ve never seen you separated for more than a few hours, a day tops!” 

“I know what he wants,” Joe said. “And I’m… not ready yet.” His expression was unreadable. 

“What?” 

Joe just shrugged, rose and left the room.

***

The tension between the two of them became almost unbearable over the next weeks. Nicky still refused to talk to Joe. He slept in a separate room and spent way too much time with his sword exercises and _purely accidental_ he always forgot to wear a shirt.

Joe became moody, downright assy to them. 

Andy had told him to get his things straight and left. She had asked Nile if she wanted to come along, but Nile was worried about Joe and Nicky and said she’d rather stay here. 

Joe paced about three hours before he finally took a deep breath and straightened his back. He went to the living room where Nicky sat in an armchair, one leg over the armrest and a book in his lap. He didn’t look up when Joe entered but Nile lingered in the back, just in case she needed to intervene. 

“Fine,” he said, spread both arms for a second before he let them drop again. “Fine!” 

Nicky carefully put a bookmark into his book and looked up, his head cocked but his expression completely blank. He put the book aside and waited for Joe to continue. 

“Fine!” Joe said again. “You want me to beg? Here I am! I’m begging!” he said. “I’m begging for your forgiveness! Yes, I was an ass, yes, I was wrong, yes, I was reckless and you were right. You were right from the beginning and I should’ve listened to you! I beg for your forgiveness,” he said and then he did something Nile never expected. He dropped down to his knees and just looked at Nicky. 

“Please…” 

Nicky blinked slowly, put his book onto the side table, rose and went to Joe. He looked down at him for a very long moment before he moved. Nile bit her lip, ready to step in but Nicky just bowed down, put a hand on Joe’s face, leaned in and kissed his forehead and then smiled. 

“I forgive you, habibi.”


	17. I did not see that coming - Sebastien le Livre | Booker

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No 17. I DID NOT SEE THAT COMING  
> Blackmail | Dirty Secret | **Wrongfully Accused**

Sebastien cursed himself. He should’ve run away. He should’ve. But he was a good soldier, a loyal soldier. And he made the mistake to think, his comrades would believe him. He really thought they would believe him. 

“Sebastien le Livre!” his commander just announced loudly in front of his comrades. “You are charged with high treason.”

A few days earlier he was sent with a group of soldiers on a recon mission. They should find out where the Russians had their encampment and their troop strength. They found the encampment and fulfilled their mission, but on their way back they literally ran into a Russian squad and fighting broke out. They fought with their muskets and bayonets and sabres and swords but they were only a few and the Russians were in the majority. 

Sebastien saw Marc die, then Henry, then Albert. And then one of the Russians managed to shoot him. He looked at the blood stain on his uniform before the pain finally hit him. He died.

With a gasp Sebastien resurrected. He was confused, more than confused. He knew he died. He had felt it. And now… now he was awake. Awake and alive. 

He sat up and looked around himself. His dead comrades lay around him but the Russians were gone. He patted his chest, opened his jacket and looked at unblemished skin. 

“That’s… that’s impossible!” he muttered. “That’s just not possible!” 

He rose and looked around again. Dead people lay around him but he… he was alive. 

“How?” he asked. But no one was there to answer his question. 

He should get back to his unit, should tell them what they found out. Slowly he oriented himself and then started to walk. It took him three days to get back to the encampment and he had weird dreams when he lay down to sleep. Very weird dreams of a woman with an axe and two men with swords. He had never seen them before so he had no idea why he dreamed of them. 

But then he arrived and he was arrested immediately. 

“You led your comrades into a trap,” was the answer when he asked why they did arrest him. 

“I did what?” Sebastien blurted and stared at them incredulously.

“You survived, the other’s are dead. You are a Russian spy and you led them to us.” 

And indeed, a few Russians followed him. They showed him. 

Sebastien paled but then his former comrades led him away. 

“I’m not a spy,” he said. “I hate the Russians, that’s why I’m here!” he told them but they didn’t believe him. They tied him up and brought him to their commander. 

There wasn’t a trial. The commander said it was high treason and that's that. No one listened to him when he told them he had no idea why he survived and the rest of his team was dead. They said he was a traitor and now they would hang him. 

Laurence - a man he had considered a friend - tied the hangman’s knot and threw it over a thick branch of a tree. 

“I’m not a traitor!” he said nevertheless when they led him to the tree. “I am a loyal soldier to Napoleon!” 

And moments later he died again.


	18. Panic! At the disco - Joe/Nicky

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No 18. PANIC! AT THE DISCO  
> Panic Attacks | **Phobias** | Paranoia

Joe was in the garden when _the incident_ happened. After Booker’s banishment they had decided to lie low for a while. Andy took Nile and they went to South America and he and Nicky had decided to look after their house in Malta. They arrived only yesterday and were too tired to do anything but sleep but today they wanted to knock it back into shape. Nicky had said he would take care of the cleaning and Joe wanted to weed his garden.

“Jooooooeeeee!” Nicky yelled from inside the house. 

Joe was just kneeling in the middle of his beds of roses, leaped up to his feet, dropped the garden hoe and ran to the house. 

“Nicky?” he called and looked around frantically.

“Kitchen!” Nicky answered and Joe hurried to him… only to find him standing on the table, white as a sheet and staring at something on the floor. 

Joe’s eyes followed his gaze and then his brows hit his hairline. 

“Really?” he asked and looked incredulously at his husband. 

“That’s not funny, Joe!” Nicky whined. “Take it away! Kill it!” 

“It’s a spider, Nicky,” Joe said. “It’s just a tiny spider.” 

“Maybe it’s poisonous?” Nicky said and glared down from his vantage point. 

Joe couldn’t hold back the smile, went to the _intruder_ , hunkered down beside it and gently nudged it to crawl on his hand. 

“Don’t touch it!” Nicky pleaded. 

“Well, it’s not that it can kill me, habibi,” Joe smiled and moved to the window. He opened it and let the spider crawl onto the window sill and closed it again. He turned around and saw Nicky still standing on the kitchen table. 

“So, do you plan to come down anytime soon?” he asked. “To thank your savior maybe?” 

“No,” Nicky shook his head. “First you look if there are more.” 

“Nicky, baby, they can’t harm you. They can’t kill you and they are…” 

“... more scared about me, I know, I know,” he said. “But I still don’t like them and if you don’t look I will stay up here…” he stated and folded his arms over his chest. And when he saw Joe open his mouth to a witty remark he added quickly. “And I will sleep in the car tonight.” 

“Fine,” Joe said but he went and searched for more spiders nevertheless. He knew that he really, really didn’t like spiders since Cuzco, 1522. He found two more, set them out onto the window sill and even removed the cobwebs. 

“Thank you,” Nicky breathed when Joe held his hand out to help him down. “My knight in shining armor.” 

“Actually, you’ve been the knight,” Joe grinned. “I’m just your savior.” 

“Thank you, my savior,” Nicky smiled and pecked him on his cheeks. “But now hurry, your roses are waiting for you.” 

“As you wish.”


	19. Broken Hearts - Sebastien le Livre & Team

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No 19. BROKEN HEARTS  
> Grief | **Mourning Loved One** | Survivor’s Guilt

Booker stood at the small cemetery, far behind the funeral party, his hands folded in front of his stomach. He hung his head so the others wouldn’t see his tears. 

Andy stood beside him, Joe and Nicky behind him. No one of them said a word but it was reassuring that they were here with him. 

The priest just finished his prayers and the casket was lowered into the grave. Angelique was there and threw some earth onto the casket and then there were Jean-Pierre’s children, Booker’s grandchildren. They were crying and Angelique put her arms around them. 

Other people went to them, talked to them and Booker waited in the back, waited till all of them were gone. And then some more. 

Andy, Nicky and Joe stood beside him. No one said a word, no one moved away. They gave him all the time he needed. When dusk was falling Booker eventually moved. Slowly he walked to the grave and looked at it. That was his son, his youngest son. He lay in the casket, buried in soil and he would never see him again.

The poor boy was so sick, he had suffered so much before he had to die way too early. Booker closed his eyes, remembered him calling for him, his father… and there was nothing he could have done. The doctors and nurses in the hospital thought Jean-Pierre had lost his mind. After all, Booker seemed to be as old as him. 

And Jean-Pierre? He had begged him to help him, had cursed him and then he had cried. Booker would’ve given his right arm if he could’ve helped him but he couldn’t. He was immortal and his poor boy had to die so soon, so very soon. Jean-Pierre had three children and Angelique had to raise them alone now. He couldn’t see them grow up, couldn’t be there when they would marry or get children themselves. 

A tear ran over his face when he hunkered down beside the grave, touching the cold ground. Andy put her hand on his left shoulder and Booker nodded thankfully. 

“Au revoir mon fils,” he whispered. “Au revoir.” 

He rose and Andy stepped aside. Nicky went to him, hugged him and then Joe did the same. 

“Merci,” Booker whispered and took the handkerchief Nicky offered him. 

“Let’s go,” he said then and together with his friends, his family, he left the cemetery.


	20. Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore - Joe/Nicky

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No 20. TOTO, I HAVE A FEELING WE’RE NOT IN KANSAS ANYMORE  
> Lost | **Field Medicine** | Medieval
> 
> TW: amputation

“Hold him!” Nicky commanded. Joe nodded and he and Bernard held the squirming man on the bed. Nicky turned to the man and held a wooden stick in his hand. 

“What’s your name, soldier?” he asked him and the man calmed down a tiny bit. 

“Joseph,” he stammered. “Joseph Wilson.” 

“All right Joseph. We’re trying to save your life here. It will hurt. It will hurt a lot but you have to hang on or you’re going to die. You don’t want to die, right?” Nicky said and the man shook his head. 

“That’s good. And now you need to open your mouth,” he said to the man and when he looked at him, his eyes wide in fear, Nicky explained. “You have to bite on this stick,” he said. 

Tears ran over the man’s face but he opened his mouth and took the piece of wood in his mouth and bit on it. 

“All right,” Nicky said. Joe nodded at him reassuringly when he took the bone saw and the man started to squirm again. 

Nicky took a deep breath, placed his hand on the man’s upper thigh and looked at the mess that had been a knee this morning. But now there was only blood and flesh and bone splinters. They had to amputate it to save his life. To give him a chance to survive. It wasn’t really sanitary here in the field hospital but without an amputation this man would be dead by tomorrow. Nicly knew that, he had seen it many times. 

This war - they called it the Great War - was the worst he had ever seen which is saying something, after all, he’s participated in the crusades. But if you run your sword through a man he’ll be dead immediately… or soon after. Sure, they had had field hospitals back then, too, but not for wounds this severe. On the other hand, they didn’t have rifles back then. 

Nicky took a deep breath and brought the bone saw in position. 

Joseph started to whimper but he bit on the stick and Joe and Bernard tightened their grip. And then Nicky started to move the saw. The saw blade went easily through Joseph’s flesh and the man screamed but he didn’t let go of the wooden stick. He threw his head back, thrashed with his good leg while Nicky hit the bone. He gritted his teeth and continued to move the blade through the man’s leg while Joe and Bernard did their best to hold him. 

And then it was done. The destroyed piece of meat fell to the side and Joseph dropped back, unconscious. Joe pressed his fingers against his pulse point. 

“Weak, but he’s alive,” he said. Nicky sighed, put the bone saw onto the small table beside the bed, took the bloody pulp and moved it aside while Joe stepped into his place. Together with Bernard he started to take care of the stump. 

Nicky left the hospital tent and went to the barrell, where they collected the biological waste and he could see lots of cut off limbs. Arms, legs, hands, feet, an ear… He stared at the barrel and felt his stomach squirm. He pressed his hand over his mouth, retched a few times and hurried to the side where he emptied his stomach. 

“Here you are,” he heard Joe’s voice behind him. He rose and looked at him, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. 

“This is… this is so… so…” he said and couldn’t find proper words to describe his feelings right now. 

“I know,” Joe said, closed the distance and wrapped his arms around him. Nicky let his head drop against Joe’s shoulder and Joe kissed his temple. 

“You did good in there,” he whispered. “You did good.” 

“This is so awful,” Nicky said quietly and Joe just kissed his temple again.

“I know, my love.” He caressed the back of his head and Nicky calmed down again. 

“Let’s go back,” Joe said quietly. “There are more soldiers who need our help.” 

Nicky took a deep breath, nodded, reached for Joe’s hand and nodded again. 

“Let’s go.”


	21. I don't feel so well - Andromache the Scythe & Team

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No 21. I DON’T FEEL SO WELL  
> Chronic Pain | Hypothermia | **Infection**

Andy was human. She’s been the oldest of the immortals but now she’s just a human. An ordinary human. Sure, she was still an extraordinary fighter, sure, she still knew more about fighting than entire armies. But she was not immortal anymore.

“How’s she doing?” Nile asked. She bit her lip and shifted from one foot to the other. 

“The fever is still rising,” Joe said worriedly. Nicky was with Andy. He cooled her forehead with cold compresses but the infection was still raging in her body. 

“She needs a doctor, Joe,” Nile said insistently. “She’s literally burning and she can die from it!” 

“I know,” Joe said. “But she doesn’t want a doctor.” 

“What the fuck,” Nile cursed and looked at the door to the bedroom. “She can’t be serious.” 

“Oh, you don’t know her as well as we do,” Joe snorted. “She’s stubborn and…” 

“She’s gonna die!” 

“Silenzio, per favore!” Nicky suddenly hissed and both, Nile and Joe, turned to the door and the other man. “She fell asleep and the fever is… well… it seems stable now,” he sighed. 

“She needs a doctor,” Nile said adamantly and Nicky nodded slowly. 

“I know,” he said and sat down on a chair. He wiped his face with one hand. He looked old, Nile thought for a moment. “I know.” 

“What are we doing now?” Nile asked and Joe looked from her to Nicky and then back. 

“Call Copley,” he said. “We need a doctor we can trust.” 

“We can’t…” Nicky started but Joe made a harsh gesture with his hand. 

“I will not let her die,” he said. “And I don’t care if she’s angry at me afterwards. At least she’ll be alive to be angry.” 

“All right,” Nicky eventually agreed and Nile pulled out her phone. She just called when they heard a loud moan out of Andy’s bedroom. 

“I’ll go,” Joe said and left the room. Nicky went to the kitchen, put a kettle onto the stove and searched for teabags. 

“Copley will find us a doctor,” Nile said when she came into the kitchen, too. “He said we should call him in half an hour. 

“Bene,” Nicky said. He had found a teabag, put it in a mug and poured boiling water over it. Nile nibbled at her lower lip and Nicky went to her, put his arm around her shoulder. 

“Don’t worry,” he said quietly. “Andy is too stubborn to die from an infection.” 

Nile sighed and Nicky smiled at her. “And when she’s recovered, we kill her for not telling us about the wound.” 

Nile snorted and went to the couch. Nicky brought the tea to Andy’s room and came back a few minutes later. “She’ll definitely be okay,” he said when he sat down beside her. She just cursed Joe in six different languages for calling Copley.” 

“That’s good to hear,” Nile said. She liked Andy. She really did and she would miss her if she died. 

“Call Copley,” Nicky said a few minutes later. She did and Copley told her where they would find a doctor they could trust. But they had to fetch him.

“I’ll drive,” she said and looked at Nicky. “Wanna come?” 

And Nicky nodded and rose.


	22. Do these tacos taste funny to you? - Sebastien le Livre | Booker

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No 22. DO THESE TACOS TASTE FUNNY TO YOU?  
> Poisoned | Drugged | **Withdrawal**

Booker had listened for a while now but this time, this time he would do it. 

“Anyone else?” the chairman asked and looked around. Booker felt his hands starting to sweat and his heart beating faster but then he rose. 

“Hello,” he said. “My name is Sebastien but my friends call me Booker,” he said. “And I’m an alcoholic.” 

“Hello, Booker,” the other people in the room said and they all looked at him. 

“I had my last drink three weeks ago,” he said and the other people nodded approvingly and one of them even clapped at him. 

_He paced in his dirty living room. Two days ago he had locked himself in and had poured away all of his bottles of cognac. But now he went literally up the walls. He needed a drink. And he needed it now! His hands trembled and his heart beat like crazy. He couldn’t sleep and so he paced. He pressed his hands over his ears because he could hear his dead sons, his dead wives, his friends but no one was here. He had no idea if it was a good sign to have hallucinations and they didn’t go away when he tried to block them out. But the worst were the seizures he had. He lay on his bed and cried because they hurt and he had to puke but nothing but bile came up. When he tried to drink some water his stomach churned and he puked some more. And then he paced again._

“I started drinking when… when I lost my first son,” Booker said and looked at his hands. “It was… it was comforting somehow, you know.” Some of the people nodded silently. “And… I didn’t realize how much I drank. I just did it.” 

He took a deep breath and looked up. 

“I had three sons, two wives,” he said. “They are all dead. And I drank. I drank the grief away. Or I tried it. My parents are dead, my brothers and my sister are dead and the only people I had left… I betrayed them in the worst way possible and they… they don’t want to see me anymore. I destroyed everything I had and I drank even more.” 

He wiped his face with his hand and sighed. 

“Three weeks ago my neighbor found me lying in front of the stairs. She thought I was dead but I was just absolutely shitfaced. She had her daughter with her and the kid… she started to cry when she saw me and that’s… that’s when I decided it had to stop. I tried alone, but…” he raised both hands and let them drop again. “My neighbor told me about this group and well… here I am.” 

He sat down again and all of the people here thanked him for sharing his story. 

“Anyone else?” the chairman asked again but when no one rose he nodded and rose himself. 

“Let us pray the Lord’s prayer,” he said. “Everyone can join but no one has to.” He held his hands out to his left and his right and the people rose as well and took them. Booker hasn’t been in church for a long time. At first, when Andy and the others found him, he went with Nicky sometimes but after Jean-Pierre’s death he refused to go. 

But now he rose, too, took the hands offered to him and joined in. “Our father in heaven, hallowed be thy name…”


	23. What's a whumpee gotta do to get some sleep around here? - Andromache/Quynh

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No 23. WHAT’S A WHUMPEE GOTTA DO TO GET SOME SLEEP AROUND HERE?  
> Exhaustion | Narcolepsy | **Sleep Deprivation**

“We shouldn’t have gone to Schottland,” Andromache had said. “I should’ve listened to you.” 

But that was this morning and now… she had no idea what these monsters just did to her. Quynh was chained to a wall and when she heard the door being unlocked she rose. 

It wasn’t Andromache brought back, it was a few more guards. And this they came for her. 

“Do you want to confess, witch?” one of them asked and Quynh shook her head. 

“There is nothing I have to confess,” she said and raised her chin an inch. 

“Well,” the guard said and went to her. They pressed her against the wall, chained her hands behind her back and removed the other chains before they led her out of the room. She swallowed hard. If her feet weren’t bound together, she’d fought but it was impossible right now. They dragged her through a dark corridor only lit by a few torches to another door. And when they shoved her in she saw Andromache. 

These monsters had pulled her up on her hands and she hung in the air. 

“What…” she started but one of the men kicked her in her knees and she fell down. She could feel them do something with the chains around her wrists and then she felt the pull. It hurt. They pulled her hands up and she had to get on her feet and they still pulled till her shoulders almost snapped out of their sockets and she could only stand bent forward. 

All of the men aside from one left and his job was to keep them awake. It wasn’t too difficult because in these positions they were in constant pain and to think about dozing was almost impossible. But every now and then one of them dozed off because of sheer exhaustion and then the guy was there to beat them. They gave them water but no food and they didn’t let them go down. 

“Do you want to confess, witch?” they asked them but neither she nor Andromache had anything to confess. 

Quynh’s back hurt and she was tired, so damn tired and she was hungry and she could hear voices of people who weren’t here anymore and she saw shadows, weird shadows, moving shadows and it hurt and the man hit her and they asked her if she wanted to confess and it hurt, hurt, hurt and she wanted to sleep and Andromache screamed and Lykon screamed but Lykon wasn’t here and she saw him laugh at them and it hurt and she was thirsty and they asked her if she wanted to confess and she cried and they kicked her feet away and her shoulders jumped out of their joints and she cried again and it hurt and she was tired and she saw people, saw shadows, heard voices and saw things and she was in pain and wanted to sleep, just sleep…

“Do you want to confess, witch?” 

“Devil,” she murmured. “Demons…” 

“Did you hear that?” One of the men said and they let her down. “She confessed!” 

“No,” Quynh mumbled. She had tried to insult these men, not confess anything. 

“Let’s bring her back to her cell,” a guy said. “Tomorrow the judge will sentence her.” 

“And the other one?” 

“We’ll wait till she confessed, too.” 

“No,” Quynh hissed when they dragged her away. “No! Andromache! No!”


	24. You're not making any sense - Nicolo di Genova

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No 24. YOU’RE NOT MAKING ANY SENSE  
> Forced Mutism | Blindfolded | **Sensory Deprivation**

Nicky sat on the floor of the white room. He had pulled his knees up to his body, had wrapped his arms around them and his head placed on them. He squeezed his eyes shut in an attempt to blind out all the white.

He hated this room. He hated his captors and he hated himself, too. 

Everything was white. The walls were white, the floor was white, the mattress was white, the toilet and the sink were white. The door was white and the light above him was so bright that there were no shadows at all. The clothes they had given him were white. Only his skin was of different color. The only food he got was unseasoned rice, sometimes a spoonful of unseasoned cottage cheese. The walls were padded and soundproof and not even the shoes of the guards made a sound. No one talked to him. The only voice he had heard in a long time was his own and only god knew how long he was here. 

He started to rock, started to move back and forth only to feel _something_. 

And then _it_ started again. 

_’Where were you?’ Joe’s voice._

_‘Why weren’t you here?’ Booker’s voice._

_‘Andy is dead and it’s your fault!’ Nile’s voice._

_‘Booker had to leave and it’s your fault!’ Quynh’s voice._

_‘It’s your fault, Nicky!’ Andy’s voice._

_‘You killed her, Nicky!’ Joe’s voice._

_‘You betrayed us, Nicky!’ Quynh’s voice._

_‘Your fault, Nicky!’ Joe’s voice._

_‘Why did you betray us?’ Andy’s voice._

_‘Why did you betray me?’ Joe’s voice._

_‘You’re a traitor, Nicky!’ Nile’s voice._

_‘You’re a betrayer, Nicky!” Quynh’s voice._

_‘You’re an imposter, Nicky!’ Booker’s voice._

_‘You deserve what happens to you!’ Andy’s voice._

_‘You’re a killer, Nicky!’ Joe’s voice._

_‘You’re a monster, Nicky! Joe’s voice._

_‘I don’t love you, Nicky!’ Joe’s voice._

_‘I never loved you, Nicky!’ Joe’s voice._

_‘I hate you, Nicky!’ Joe’s voice._

_‘You’re banished, Nicky!’ Copley’s voice._

_‘You’re banished for a thousand years!’ Copley’s voice._

“Noooooooo!” He screamed and tore at his hair. He rose, hit the door and it didn’t make a sound. He hit the walls and it didn’t make a sound. “No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No!” 

Nicky slumped down on his knees, his head down on the floor and tears ran over his face. 

“Please,” he pleaded to no one in particular. His captors had locked him in and then… nothing. No interrogation, no questions, no talking, no nothing. No one touched him, no one hit him, no one hurt him. Just...nothing. 

“Please!” But around him was nothing but silence. And whiteness.


	25. I think I'll collapse right here, thanks - Joe/Nicky

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No 25. I THINK I’LL JUST COLLAPSE RIGHT HERE, THANKS  
> Disorientation | **Blurred Vision** | Ringing Ears

Sometimes Joe was thankful that he was immortal. After all, he could spend many lifetimes with the love of his life. That was the main benefit he had to admit. But right now he cursed his body for forcing him to go through this. 

This? This was losing his eyes and growing them back. 

Two days earlier they were doing a job for Copley and everything went according to plan… until one of those fuckers decided to use hand grenades. Joe had seen a man throw it and jumped to shove Andy out of reach. Unfortunately now he was too close and the grenade literally shredded half of his body. His face was mush and his eyes were gone. 

He remembered waking up in a van, someone holding his hand. 

“Don’t try to talk, love,” he heard a voice. Nicky’s voice and he sighed thankfully that he was still with them. “We accomplished the mission,” he whispered in his ear. “Andy is mostly unharmed, just a few scratches but thanks to you still with us.” 

Nicky caressed his cheek and Joe realized that his beard was gone. He tried to speak but his vocal cords didn’t work properly and he just burbled something unintelligible. 

“You need some time to heal, so give it time,” Nicky said. 

Joe opened his eyes but he couldn’t see him. He could see light and darkness, and something blurry beside him. The blurry thing moved so it was probably Nicky. 

“Oh,” he said when Joe wanted to reach out for his face. “Don’t touch your eyes. They need to regrow.” 

Joe whined impatiently. Last time it took almost a week till he could see properly again. 

“Don’t worry,” Nicky chuckled in his ear. “I’ll help you.” 

Nicky kissed his beardless cheek. “For the next few days I’ll be your guide dog.” 

Joe tried to glare at him but he couldn’t even do that. He hated it. 

“Come on,” Nicky said and took his hand. He helped him stand - at least his feet worked properly - and led him away. Joe had no idea where he was right now but he trusted Nicky. The only things he could see were light and darkness and outlines of bigger objects. 

Joe wanted to say something again but his voice still refused to work. 

“Do you need something to drink?” Nicky asked and Joe shook his head. 

“Hungry?” He shook his head again. 

“Tired?” Joe nodded. 

“Good,” he said. Nicky led him somewhere and Joe held out his hand not to run into something. It was a bedroom and it smelled familiar. Nicky helped him to sit on the bed and lay down behind him. This time he wrapped his arms around him and held him and Joe was thankful to have this wonderful man in his life. He wished he could see him right now. 

But his eyes would take some time and then… then he would use them to look at his beautiful husband for a long, long while.


	26. If you thought the head trauma was bad... - Joe/Nicky

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No 26. IF YOU THOUGHT THE HEAD TRAUMA WAS BAD…  
>  **Migraine** | Concussion | Blindness

When Nile heard the retching she hurried to the bathroom, only to find Joe leaning over the bowl, his arms wrapped around it and hurling. Nicky sat beside him but when he saw Nile, he came out of the bathroom, closed the door behind her and nodded at the kitchen. 

She followed him over there before she asked if Joe was okay.

“He has a migraine,” Nicky said and leaned against a kitchen counter. “And he didn’t tell me it was coming up.” 

“Uh… we can still have migraines?” Nile asked. For a moment she had thought as and immortal you’d be immune to such things. 

“Unfortunately, we can,” Nicky sighed. “We cannot die, but we can still feel the pain.” 

She nodded slowly. 

“That’s…” she started but if she was honest with herself she had no idea how to finish the sentence. 

“Could you maybe stay here for a moment?” he asked. “I’ll hurry down to the drugstore to get some meds.” 

“Sure,” Nile nodded. “Sure thing.” 

“Thanks,” Nicky smiled and left the kitchen. 

Slowly she went to the bathroom to find the other man still clutching the bowl. 

“Hey,” he whispered when he recognized her. His eyes seemed glassy and he was clearly in a lot of pain. 

“Hey,” she said, too, and sat down on the edge of the bathtub. “Do you… do you need something?” 

Joe shook his head and groaned the next moment. He tried to wipe his lips with the back of his hand and Nile took a towel and gave it to him. He nodded thankfully, only to wince the next moment. 

When he tried to rise she went to him and held her hand out. 

“Here, let me help you,” she said quietly. She took his arm and led him to the bedroom he shared with Nicky. Slowly he lay down on one side and pulled the blanket over his face. 

“The light?” Nile asked and Joe groaned.

She went and closed the curtains. “Better?” 

Joe was quiet for a long while but then he started to mutter under his breath.

“More than nine hundred years and still no cure for this damn migraines.” 

“Do you have them often?” she asked quietly. 

“Only when wie lie low for too long,” he admitted. “Can you do me a favor and cut the right half of my head?” 

“Uh… what?” Nile squawked. 

“He asked me the same thing a few times,” she heard a voice behind her. Nicky was back but - as usual - she didn’t hear him. It was terrifying how silently he could move. 

“Please tell me you didn’t actually do that!” she blurted and Nicky looked away for a second. “Oh my god.” 

“It was one time,” Joe mumbled from under the blankets. “And it didn’t work.” 

“Oh my god,” Nile said again and rose. 

“Thanks for watching over him,” Nicky just said and went to sit beside Joe. He took out two pills and gave them to Joe who swallowed them without water. “He can’t stand any liquids when he has migraines. He always has to puke. But when the pills kick in, it will get better.” 

“Okay,” Nile nodded and went to the door. 

“Thanks,” Nicky said again and Nile closed the door behind the two.


	27. Okay, who had natural disaster on their 2020 Bingo card? - Team

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No 27. OK, WHO HAD NATURAL DISASTERS ON THEIR 2020 BINGO CARD?   
> Earthquake | **Extreme Weather** | Power Outage

2421 A.D.

“Why are we still doing this, boss?” Booker asked and glared out of the hood of his parka. Andy turned around for a moment and seemed to deliberate. 

“Because we help people,” she said then and shrugged. 

“But, boss,” Booker said and gestured around. “Here?” 

_Here_ was the polar cap of Wachat 7, a small planet in the Lida System. 

“Yes, here,” Booker heard Nicky growl from behind him and the other man passed him slowly. It was cold, really, really cold. Colder than back on Earth. 

Wachat 7 was one of the first colonies in this system and a month ago the contact broke off and no one knew what happened. 

Ariel Copley had called them and told them that she needed them up there to find out what happened. After all, two of her grandchildren were among the colonists. 

Joe had landed ‘The Old Guard’ outside of the settlement and Andy had cursed. The whole planet was frozen. Literally frozen. 

“What the fuck happened here?” Nile had said and wrapped her arms around her body. She hated cold weather since Moscow 2214. 

“That’s what we want to find out,” Quynh huffed and put a hand on her shoulder. “Let’s suit up and go.” 

“Joe, you stay here and keep the engines running,” Andy had said. “We don’t want to be stranded on this ball of ice.” 

“Sure thing, boss,” he had grinned and sloppily saulted. 

“Nicky, I need you and your sniper rifle,” she had said and Nicky had nodded. 

And now they were on their way from the landing field to the settlement. They used to have public transport but it was frozen, too, and so they decided to just walk. 

“I can’t feel my nose anymore,” Nile muttered. She had pulled her scarf up to her nose and mumbled under her breath. 

“We’re close,” Quynh said and passed them, too. “Can you see something, Nicky?” 

Nicky took the laserscope of his rifle and looked through it. 

“No people,” he said. “Only frozen containers.” He turned a bit. “And frozen rovers.” 

“Fuck,” Booker cursed and Nile looked at him sternly. “Sorry,” he said and shrugged ruefully. Nile didn’t like when he cursed and since they were married he tried not to curse so much anymore. 

“Let’s check out the situation,” Quynh suggested and nodded at Andy. “Nile, Book, from this side, Andy and me from this,” she pointed in different directions. “Nicky, you cover us.” 

“All right,” he said and searched for a spot where he could see both groups. 

Booker went with Nile and the two descended down to the small settlement. The living containers were all grouped around a small plaza and they all were completely frozen. They walked around for a few minutes before Nile pointed at one of the containers. 

“Let’s go in,” she said and Booker nodded. He tapped his comm and told Nicky. 

“Be careful,” the sniper said and Booker smiled and waved in his direction. 

Nile had opened the container, her gun drawn and carefully peered in. Only when she was sure that nothing dangerous was in it she opened the door completely and let Booker in first. He took cover behind a small cabinet, his weapon drawn as well. Nile went in, too. Meticulously they searched the container but there was no one here. But everything was covered in ice. 

“Oh shit,” Booker couldn’t hold back and Nile went to him. In one of the tiny sleep chambers she saw what made him curse again. There was a cradle and in the cradle lay a baby. It was dead and completely covered in ice. 

“Boss,” Nile said over her comms. “We found a frozen baby.” 

“We have a few bodies over here, too,” Andy answered. “Whatever happened, it happened fast.” 

“True,” Booker said. He had opened the other sleep chamber and found a man, frozen in his bed and a woman, lying on the floor, also frozen. 

“So it was brought about by someone,” Quynh quipped in. 

“Let’s find the colony’s control center,” Booker suggested and he and Nile left the living container. They didn’t have to search long. The CCC was the biggest container beside the plaza. Quynh and Andy were already in when Booker and Nile arrived. Quynh had plugged in her Slate into the central computer already and typed on it. 

“Joe,” she just said in her comm, “use our computer to decipher the data.” 

“Roger,” Joe gave back. Andy, Booker and Nile searched the CCC and they found more bodies of frozen people. 

“Oh darn,” Andy said a few moments later when she saw two women sitting in front of computers. They both had ‘Copley’ on their name tags. And they both were dead. 

“Joe,” Booker said in his comm. “Call Ariel. We found her grandchildren. They are… they are dead.” 

“Damn,” the other man said and Booker closed his eyes for a moment. They knew this family for so long now, so many years they had helped them and he had hoped they would find the two alive. “All right, we have all the data,” he said then. 

“Let’s go back to the ship and then out of here. We’ll call the Federation, they can take care of the rest,” Andy said. 

“Right,” Nile agreed but she looked at Andy. “But we’re going to find out what happened, right?” 

“Of course we do,” Andy growled. “We owe Ariel and her family.” 

“All right,” Quynh said and nodded at them. “Let’s go back.”


	28. Such wow. Many normal. Very oops. - Joe/Nicky

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No 28. SUCH WOW. MANY NORMAL. VERY OOPS.  
> Accidents | **Hunting Season** | Mugged

Joe rose when he heard someone come. He went to the bars of the cell and looked out in the corridor. Four men walked down the stairs and stopped in the corridor. 

“Which one do you want?” one of the men asked and pointed at the cells. He was one of the guys who had captured him and Nicky and locked them in here. 

Joe looked over at the cell where Nicky sat and swallowed hard. _’Please don’t pick him,’_ he thought and glared at the men in front of his cell. 

The men scrutinized all of them, talked to each other quietly and then one of them grinned and pointed at him, Joe. 

“This one,” he said and his grin broadened. “We take the camel fucker.” 

“Good choice,” their capturer said and nodded at the men to get back to the stairs. 

“Joe,” Nicky whispered and tried to reach over to him but the distance between the cells was too far. 

“They don’t know about us,” Joe whispered in Russian. “When they have me, I’ll come back and get you.” 

“What if…” 

“No,” Joe shook his head and smiled reassuringly. “We will get out of here!” 

“Don’t die without me,” Nicky said and Joe smiled sadly. 

“I wouldn’t dare to,” he said. 

“I love you,” Nicky said when their captors came for Joe. 

They tied his hands and led him through the corridor, up the stairs and out of the building. A van with open doors waited outside and they shoved him in. They closed the door but fortunately no one came up with the idea to blindfold him. Joe tried to memorize the route and it wasn’t difficult, he had always had a good memory. 

“All right,” one of the guys said when they had stopped the car. “Run!” 

And Joe did! 

He ran! Trees were everywhere. He could hear them. They had waited a few minutes but now they were coming. Dogs! They had dogs! 

Joe ran through the wood, he left the small trail and into the bushes The damn dogs would still find him. He had to get rid of them. 

When it was quieter for a moment and he saw a huge spruce he jumped. He reached the branches and pulled himself up. But he couldn’t wait here, the dogs would find him. He jumped again onto another spruce. The damn needles scratched his skin. Sure, it would heal but if drops of his blood fell onto the ground, the dogs would be able to smell him again. 

The three hunters were below him and he could see them already, he could see the dogs. Three German Shepherds. Not as good as Bloodhounds but still pretty good mantrailers. 

Joe held his breath. He tried to be as quiet as possible when the hunters were beneath him. But then - unfortunately - one of the dogs looked up, saw him and barked. 

“Damn,” he cursed. He closed his eyes for a second before he just dropped down on them. One of the guys tried to raise his rifle but Joe just fell on him. He broke his neck immediately. The dogs came and Joe tried to shoo them away. It almost broke his heart but when one of them bit into his leg and the other one into his arm, he had to do something. He kicked one of the dogs, reached over and broke the neck of the other one. The third one was on his way and the two hunters overcame the initial shock and aimed with their rifles. Joe kicked the growling dog again, dropped onto the ground and pulled the dead hunter over him. The men shot him in the back and Joe moved again. He rolled over his shoulder, kicked the remaining dog so it stumbled away, ducked under one of the hunter’s rifle, grabbed it, turned it around and forced the man’s finger to pull the trigger. The other hunter dropped dead. 

One dog and one man left. And the dog came. It bit Joe’s arm and he had to twist to get rid of him and it whined when he had to break its neck. He liked dogs, he really did and he almost cried. But there was still one of the hunters left and the man realized how dangerous the ‘camel fucker’ was. He turned around and ran. Joe gritted his teeth, took one of the rifles, aimed… and shot him in the legs. 

“No,” he begged, “Please, no!” 

“Would you have granted me mercy?” Joe asked him, his head cocked. The man swallowed hard and Joe nodded. “Thought so.” 

He broke his neck and took his rifle, too. Now he would go back and free Nicky. And may God have mercy with them if they had hurt him!


	29. I think I need a doctor - Nile Freeman & team

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No 29. I THINK I NEED A DOCTOR  
> Intubation | Emergency Room | **Reluctant Bedrest**

“We’re immortal, Nicky,” Nile wheezed and tried to raise her hand. It felt as heavy as lead. “We don’t get sick!” 

Nicky, who stood beside the bed, snorted and turned around. Joe couldn’t hold back the laugh and leaned back, his eyes sparkling. 

“Oh, Nile, little sister,” he said. “You have so much to learn.” 

Nile sneezed seven times in a row. Joe took the kleenex box and gave it to her. 

“Our bodies heal faster, but we can still get sick,” Andy called from the other room. Joe and Nicky refused to let her go in. She was not immortal anymore and she could get sick, too. And maybe die. 

“It’s just the flu,” she had huffed in frustration but Nicky blocked her way, his arms folded over his chest and a stern look on his face. But when he refused to get out of her way, she muttered something like ‘mother hen’ and went back to the living room. 

But now Nicky came back to Nile, a big pot of tea on a tray together with a mug and a jar of honey. 

“I don’t like tea,” Nile whined when she saw the pot and Nicky just raised his brow while Joe chuckled again.

“Now you do,” he grinned. “He will make you. He’s relentless. Believe me!” 

“But you’re supposed to be the nice one,” Nile said and sneezed a few moments later thirteen times. 

“I am,” Nicky said and sat down on the bed beside her. He put the tray on the nightstand, took a mug and poured tea in it. Then he added some honey and gave the mug to Nile. “Drink,” he said. 

“I don’t want tea,” Nile protested. 

“Listen,” Nicky sighed. “The recipe to this mixture is older than me. It helped many, many people and it will help you.” 

“But Nicky!” Nile tried to shove the mug away. She also tried to get out of the bed. 

“What do you think you’re doing?” he asked. 

“I’m immortal,” she said. “It’s not as if the damn flu can kill me.” 

“It can slow you down for weeks,” Nicky said and reached for her arm. He held her and shoved her back in the bed again. “Lie down now and drink the tea.” 

“I don’t like tea,” Nile protested and Nicky huffed while Joe chuckled behind them. 

“You don’t have to like it, you have to drink it!” He held the mug and glared at her until Nile gave in and took it. 

“Just get it over with,” Andy called from the other room. “He won’t stop harassing you!” 

“Fine,” Nile grumbled and tried to glare back at Nicky… and failed when he suddenly smiled happily at her. Nile drank, winced and when Nicky nodded she drank some more. 

Joe leaned over to her and whispered in her ear. “See?” 

Nile lay back when she had emptied the disgusting brew. 

“And now you sleep,” Nicky commanded and Joe smiled at him. 

“I like it when you’re bossy,” he whispered and Nicky winked. 

“Get out, both of you,” Nile whined and Joe chuckled again.

“Sleep well, little sister,” Joe said and Nicky pulled the blanket back over her. And when they closed the door, Nile smiled… and sneezed nine times in a row.


	30. Now where did that come from? - Andy & Nile

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No 30. NOW WHERE DID THAT COME FROM?  
>  **Wound Reveal** | Ignoring an Injury | Internal Organ Injury

“Andy, seriously?” Nile huffed and looked at the other woman and shook her head disbelievingly. “Again?” 

“It’s not that bad,” Andy growled and pressed her hand over her the hole in her arm. 

“It’s not that bad?” Nile echoed and threw her hands up in frustration. “I can see the wall behind you through that hole!” 

Andy glared at the younger woman for a long moment but Nile didn’t look back, she held her gaze. 

“Do you want me to call Nicky?” she said then. “You know, I’m gonna do it!” 

They both knew she would do it and they both knew that if Nicky would hear about her injury, he would drag her to the next doctor. He was relentless in this case. Since Andy had lost her immortality it was Nicky who usually patched her up. He’s been a field surgeon a while ago but Andy always used to call him butcher. But he worried a lot about her and didn’t let her get out of his clutches still injured. 

“No,” Andy eventually gave in. “Let’s… let’s put a bandaid on it and…”

“You have a hole in your arm, Andy,” Nile snapped. “A hole I can see through!” 

“Then… then… whatever… do something,” she gave in and sat down on the bathtub of the hotel room they shared. 

Nile sat down, too, and looked at the wound. “It’s serious,” she said. “I mean, it’s a through-and-through wound.” 

“We can’t go to a hospital,” Andy pointed out and Nile nodded. In the US doctors had to call the cops when there was someone with a gunshot wound. 

Nile closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She took out her phone and switched on the flashlight feature to take a closer look. 

“It seems…” she muttered, “The bone is unharmed. It seems to be just a flesh wound.” 

“Can you close it then?” Andy asked and Nile shrugged. 

“Wait a moment,” she said and rose to leave the room. She took the elevator to got the reception desk. 

“Hello,” the woman behind it asked with a smile. “Is there something you need?” 

“Yes, uh…” Nile started. “Do you maybe have a sewing kit here?” 

The woman behind the desk looked at her questioningly but Nile just smiled nicely. A moment later the woman nodded and turned away. She went to one of the cupboards behind her, opened it and took out a small sewing kit with the hotel’s logo on it. 

“Here,” she said and Nile could still see the curiosity in her eyes. 

“Thank you,” Nile smiled and went back to the elevator. 

In the hotel room she opened the minibar, took out a small bottle of vodka and went with her stuff to the bathroom. Andy still sat on the bathtub. 

“You know,” she muttered when Nile dipped the needle in the vodka and then sterilised it with her lighter, “I hated to be immortal. But now I hate that even more.” She pointed at her injured arm. 

“Understandable,” Nile admitted and dipped the thread into the vodka, too. She threaded it through the eye and sat up to look at Andy. But before she started to sew she gave Andy her phone with the flashlight switched on again. 

“Can you hold that?” she asked.

And then she started to close the wound. She had no idea if she was doing it right but she’d seen all episodes of Grey’s Anatomy, House M.D. and Emergency Room. She was pretty sure she would manage. 

With her injured arm Andy held the phone but after two stitches she took the open bottle of vodka and emptied it. When Nile looked at her she just shrugged. 

“Anesthesia, you know,” she said. 

“Just try not to move too much,” Nile mumbled and concentrated on her task. It had to hurt a lot but Andy didn’t move. But Nile could actually hear her grit her teeth. 

“Could you please tell me earlier next time?” she asked quietly when she was done and cleaned the wound with a washcloth. She attached some gauze over it and wrapped a bandage around it. “Please, Andy!” 

Andromache the Scythian, the oldest living human on earth, looked at her and then nodded. 

“I think I can do that,” she smiled. 

“That’d be awesome.”


	31. Today's special: Torture - Joe/Nicky

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No 31. TODAY’S SPECIAL: TORTURE  
> Experiment | **Whipped** | Left for Dead

Yusuf rode into the small town slowly. He had pulled the litham over the lower part of his face so only his eyes were visible. He led his dromedary to the water well and dismounted. He filled the bucket with water and let the animal drink. 

He turned around when he heard steps behind himself. Two women came to draw water, too. 

“As-salamu alaykum,” he greeted them and the women nodded at him. 

“Wa alaykumu s-salam,” the women answered and started to draw water. 

“I’m searching for a friend,” he said then. “Do you maybe know if a stranger came through here?”

The two women looked at each other, then cast her eyes down and shook their heads. 

“No,” they said and wanted to turn to leave. 

“Please,” he said. “We wanted to meet weeks ago but he didn’t come. He was supposed to come this way.” 

“There was no stranger,” one of the women said. But Yusuf clearly saw that they were lying. They shared glances again. 

“Thank you,” he said and went back to this dromedary. He searched for a funduq and found one not long after. 

“I’m searching for a friend,” he asked the owner. “A stranger. Do you know if he came through?” 

The man cocked his head as if he was deliberating, then a tiny smile appeared on his lips and he shook his head. Yusuf reached in his pocket, took out a golden coin and shoved it over to him. 

“Oh! You mean the man with the green eyes?” 

Yusuf nodded. 

“He got arrested a week ago,” the man said. 

“Arrested? What for?” Yusuf blurted. The man just shrugged and walked away. 

“Nicolò,” he groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. “What happened to you?”

***

Yusuf smiled for a moment, when he finally saw Nicolò again. But then it vanished immediately. He had moved heaven and hell to find him, had talked to many people, had bribed quite a few of them till they had told him where Nicolò was and then he had to talk to more people and use more of his gold to get what he wanted.

Nicolò was accused of having harassed a few women here and should be castrated in public. But Yusuf had used his gold to convince the soldiers to _just_ whip him instead. It was still awful, but better than losing a limb, especially this one. 

And now soldiers just dragged the man he loved out of the prison. He looked awful, his hair and his beard too long, his face too thin and his clothes torn. But when he looked in his direction and recognized him, Yusuf, a small smile appeared on his lips. 

The soldiers led him to two posts and tied him to one of them. They pulled off his shirt and Yusuf could see his ribs. He swallowed hard when another soldier stepped behind him with a bullwhip in his hand. 

And then the leather strap hit Nicolò’s back. He winced but gritted his teeth. The soldier was experienced and he beat him hard and fast and soon Nicolò screamed. Yusuf saw tears running along his face and trying to get away. 

Twenty-five lashes later the soldier stopped and Nicolò’s back was a bloody mess. Yusuf hurried over to him and now the soldiers let him. He untied him and gently put his cloak around him to shield that he was healing already. 

“Habibi,” he whispered in his ear. 

“Yusuf,” Nicolò smiled. “You found me!” 

“I will always find you, my love,” he said and kissed his temple. 

“They said I had looked at their women,” Nicolò said and Yusuf wiped away the tears from his face. “But I didn’t.” 

“I know,” Yusuf said. “I know you didn’t.” 

“I would never…” he started but Yusuf interrupted him.

“I know, beloved,” he said. “Let’s get you out of here and then we will not separate again.” 

“I love you, habibi,” Nicolò whispered and Yusuf kissed his temple again.

“I love you, too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I used Wiki and Google for the translations and the setting. If something is bullshit, please let me know :D
> 
> And then, now that I'm finished it... thanks for reading, for commenting and for the kudos!!

**Author's Note:**

> [asamandra on tumblr](http://asamandra.tumblr.com/)   
>  [clintbartonruinedmylife on tumblr](https://clintbartonruinedmylife.tumblr.com/)   
> 


End file.
